Month: July 2017

Back form Mexico mission trip last night. heading for a week of vacation with family tomorrow. Enjoy this significant and practical post in the meantime. thank you for sticking with me for ongoing thoughts that emerge from preparing biblical messages.

Our outrage culture has produced a great number of apologies. Every week someone will say or do something that angers people. Some of these outrages are warranted and some are not. Pressure will mount and the masses will call for blood. Usually, the figure in question will offer some form of apology that fails to please the masses but is enough to dissipate the situation.

The main problem is that most of our apologies, both public and private, fall short. Part of the reason for this is that no one likes to apologize. Who would? Every apology requires one person to admit that they have erred in some way, shape, or form. This is an act of humility that lowers our own standing and elevates the person or persons to whom we are apologizing.

The issue is that apologies are important because they reveal what we believe about ourselves, others…

Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I am taking a break from the blog while traveling for both mission work and a family vacation through the rest of July. Our church family recently began to wrestle with the reality of sin and the power of the Gospel in a way that jarred many of our hearts. I want to share my first raw thoughts as I sought to settle my heart in Christ the next morning after this part of our journey began.

This is our Gettysburg address. It is time to acknowledge the reality of our condition with unified hearts & voices. It is time for the captives to come free from sin. It is time for us to shake our complacency about sin & holiness & purity. It is time to recognize we live on a spiritual battlefield with a real enemy who with full knowledge of what our Creator offers, promises much out of pure hate for our Creator, knowing if we turn away from God’s truth to his deceitful offers that we will be further wounded & enslaved by darkness.